“Who is Black in America?” Soledad O’Brien Tackles Racial Identity on CNN

What defines race in America? The answer is not always black and white. Biracial makeups and varied ethnicities complication delineations of race in American culture. Soledad O’Brien’s “Black In America” series attempts to address the weighted issue in its fifth installment, which airs this Sunday on CNN at 8 PM EST.

The documentary follows the story of two women with differing views on racial identity. A biracial woman (black mother, white father) doesn’t identify as black. A brown-skinned women whose parents were born in Africa considers herself black. Some don’t agree with her identification because her family hails from Egypt.

Soledad O’Brien is multiracial and identifies as black. She remembers taking “great offense” when people question her ethnicity, but has since moved past it: “I think I was part of “Black in America” even in the context of who is the filter of the story and so it became relevant, so I really stopped hating answering that question because I felt like my job is to elaborate and explain for people who I am.”

Black in America Five will also explore colorism to determine why people are discriminated against because of their skin color.

Watch a clip below featuring Soledad O’Brien and Michaela Angela Davis:

What do you think of the “Black in America” series? Will you watch the fifth installment? How do you define “blackness”?